Shattered Ice
by TobiasHawk1
Summary: Yang and Weiss have a disagreement. Tempers flare, mistakes are made.
1. Chapter 1

The flared tempers had lasted since the moment they'd started training. Ruby had decided to push the team to create new duet moves, and after the success of Checkmate and Ladybug part two, today's focus had been on a second, _offensive_ Freezerburn. However Weiss and Yang's fighting techniques had proven to be annoyingly dissimilar before, and had been bordering on incompatible throughout the training session. Slips, falls, and far too hesitant use of Dust had already left them battered and exhausted after the first two hours of practice, but they continued on, both for Ruby's sake and their own.

"Come on, guys. I'm sure you can get it right next time," Ruby promised, trying her hardest inspire and encourage her teammates. She'd always been both team leader and cheerleader, wanting her teammates to succeed wherever possible.

"Maybe if your sister had an alternate fighting strategy to punching things _harder_ , we wouldn't currently be struggling," Weiss grumbled under her breath, _just_ loud enough for Yang to hear. That'd been the first direct insult, but Yang was a big girl who'd grown to tolerate Weiss's underhanded quips. She'd buried the stinging words and shrugged them off with ease, not bothering to defend herself against someone who was obviously as frustrated as she was.

However that had only been the _first_ transgression of the day. Weiss would test her patience several more times before her blood finally started running hot. They'd disagreed on everything from footwork to strike placement to how many shells Yang was allowed to expend during their combinations.

"You won't be of any use to us when you run out of shells! Don't use any more than two-"

"Weiss, worry about yourself! I'm _fine_ , I know how many shells I have left," Yang argued. Shells or no shells, she would _never_ let her teammates down when she was needed. Weiss even _implying_ that she would was like a dagger in the chest. But she'd swallowed _that_ as well.

" _Myrtenaster doesn't need shells, just Dust… Weiss has never had to keep count before. She doesn't realize that it's something we_ _ **all**_ _do just fine_ ," she reasoned with herself.

Slamming down face-first into the hard linoleum had also been aggravating. Using one of Weiss's glyphs as a platform, Yang had tried to hover over the battlefield and gain an advantage over the animatronic punching bag the gym used for sparring practice. Weiss had tried launching her at their target a second too early, and Yang landed face-first on hard floor. Blood poured from her mouth and smashed lip before her Aura healed the injury, and she cast an angry scowl at her teammate as Ruby ended the round.

The last straw had been one Yang took personally. Hair whipping behind her, Yang had turned slightly faster than normal, her wild mane hitting Weiss in the face. In anger, Weiss had reached out and swatted at the sea of blonde, her fingertips catching her curls and tearing out a few golden strands. Yang swallowed hard as she fought to restrain herself, but knew she would lose the uphill battle to contain her emotions. They'd spill onto Weiss and that was something she deeply wanted to avoid. Unfortunately the only exit to the room was on the wall directly behind the heiress. Yang walked passed her teammate, trying her hardest not to brush passed the girl as she made her way to the door.

"Don't walk away from me! I'm your teammate and I deserve your-"

"Not _now_ , Weiss," Yang snarled. She could feel her eyes had changed from their normal lilac to the deep scarlet that was reserved only for those occasions when her temper boiled hottest. Her hair was personal. A transgression she couldn't forgive but would try _desperately_ to forget if Weiss would only give her the chance. She nearly spat as she continued passed the heiress, who was trying all too hard to get on her final nerve.

"Weiss, maybe now isn't the best time to bother Yang," Ruby explained. She kept pace just a few steps behind her partner, desperately trying to remain impartial while still getting her to leave her sister alone.

"I have _never_ shown Yang this level of disrespect and I _refuse_ to-"

"Weiss, _please_ ," Ruby begged, tugging on the heiress' sleeve. She knew her sister all too well, and everything about Yang, from her footfalls to her breath _screamed_ her desire to be left alone. Ruby reached out and took a hold of Weiss's hand, trying to hold her back long enough for her sister to clear some distance.

"Your sister is a _coward!_ She won't even look me in the eyes." Weiss had her own reasons to be upset. She'd spent years formally training to hone her skills to ensure she'd be able to mold her style to anyone who was competent. But Yang's style- _or lack thereof_ \- was compromising her ability to excel. Weiss was irritated from the long training session where their only reward had been failure, and frustrated by their lack of cohesion as teammates. The biting words were more of a reflex than an attempt to hurt her.

Yang stopped trying to walk away, her feet becoming heavy with the weight of the insult. She looked down to the ground and smiled, bright white teeth flashing in an awkward grin. Reaching up, she combed her fingers through her hair, pushing curly blonde strays away from her face to lay flat against her scalp. Yang finally turned back to her teammate, locking eyes with the smaller girl.

"Weiss…" Yang could see Weiss hesitate, taking in the seriousness of her tone. She _desperately_ hoped it would be enough to get the heiress to leave her alone. Ruby stood between them both, one hand on Yang's chest and the other against her partner's. She looked quickly from one to the other, anxiously hoping one of them would step down. Her silver eyes were wide with confusion as she struggled to decide the best way to handle the situation as a leader, friend and sister.

"Don't you threaten me," Weiss finally replied, taking a defiant step towards the blonde.

"Or _what_ , Princess?" Her words were dripping with pure rage. Her fists were at her sides, clenched and shaking as the struggle to contain herself grew more and more difficult. Ruby quickly moved to push against her sister with both hands, trying with all her might to lead the older girl away. Her red soled boots pushed desperately against the smooth linoleum, all but impossible for her to gain enough traction to move her sister.

"Yaaang," she whined, looking up into eyes she'd only seen in her nightmares. They were the same, loving eyes she'd always known, corrupted and full of fury and concentrated hatred. Yang was hurting, and like her Semblance, she was biding her time to return that pain. Ruby quickly realized she was losing the fight to end this peacefully.

"Or I'll-" Weiss's gaze moved from Yang to Ruby and back again as she spoke. Her voice wavered but never cracked as she held her ground. She _knew_ she was right. _Yang_ was the one who was being unreasonable. How _dare_ she treat her like some untrained ruffian. As if _she_ was being unreasonable for expecting Yang to be adaptable.

"Take your fucking shot," Yang growled, her voice barely a whisper above the scrape of Ruby's boots against the floor.

"Weiss, _don't_ -"

Weiss had been intimidated her whole life. By the White Fang. By rival companies threatening to usurp the empire her great grandfather started. By her own _sister_ , whose constantly shining perfection made it difficult to stand out in a family that only rewarded results. Even by her own father, during moments where low stock prices left his temper quick to rise. But she _refused_ to be bullied by her own teammate. Not by the brute Yang Xiao Long.

Weiss clenched her fist and threw all of her weight behind the strike. All of her righteousness, all of her pride, all of her hurt at being disrespected by a teammate and friend. Her fist connected with Yang's cheek, Ruby having disappeared in a burst of rose petals. Punching a brick wall would've possibly been a more effective tactic- her wrist bent in on itself, spraining the joint. Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd done, uninjured right hand reaching across her hip towards Myrtenaster.

Yang could feel the world come to a screeching halt. Everything around her moved incredibly slowly, as a million thoughts raced through her mind at once. She remembered the way Weiss had snapped at Ruby during Professor Port's class. Her sister had told her about the resulting argument as well as her conversation with Headmaster Ozpin. Yang remembered being furious at Weiss for making her sister feel inadequate, but her Ruby had begged her not to confront the heiress about it.

She remembered the way Weiss had argued with Blake, being so rude as to even refuse to help her and Ruby try to find their runaway teammate. Weiss's excuse had been "she was afraid of what Blake would say when they finally found her," but even then, that'd sounded like a despicable reason not to help find their friend. As if nothing Blake could say could absolve her of doing absolutely nothing wrong.

She remembered burying so many more uncomfortable moments shared between herself and her teammates with Weiss and her less than warm attitude. Swallowing them all and holding them down like boiling bile.

She didn't move an inch when Weiss's fist collided with her jaw. She knew her body, and was sure the strike would leave less than a bruise.

 _She_ wouldn't.

Her punch was a right hook she'd practiced thousands of times. Her fist met Weiss's Aura, a defense she'd expected the heiress to throw around herself. Her punch, fueled with anger and rage far exceeded that of Weiss's concentration. Yang punched through the defensive energy, her fist hardly slowing before it connected with Weiss's temple.

Yang was anger, rage, fury. Vindictive.

She was seeing through a haze of scarlet and fire, nothing on her mind except _vengeance_. She watched as Weiss reeled behind the force of the blow, blood pouring from the scar she'd reopened. She looked shocked, as if she hadn't actually expected Yang to hit her. As if she believed she was safe from the consequences of her actions after having been excused of them for so long. Yang clenched her left fist, ready to wipe the surprised look off her teammate's face before she felt something holding her wrist back. She looked to see a long, black ribbon wrapped around her arm and almost smiled.

" _Yang_ , what are you _doing_ ," Blake yelled, moving to push her away from the heiress.

"She's trying to _kill me_ ," Weiss screamed, reaching for Myrtenaster before Ruby zipped passed, a trail of rose petals the only evidence as to who could've stolen the weapon.

Yang shrugged and walked away, finally exiting out the door while Blake and Ruby tended to Weiss. She heard hundreds of obscenities screamed at her as she walked out of the room, but the deep, relaxing breath she took once she was finally out of earshot felt as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

Yang tried her hardest to relax in the moment, but she knew time was a luxury she didn't have. She tried to piece together the emotions she'd felt after her encounter with Weiss, but they were too numerous and dynamic to count. She made her way to her shared dorm, the only thoughts on her mind being the need to get out of the small room before the rest of her team arrived. Letting herself inside, she propped the door open with the trashcan before knocking on JNPR's door across the hall.

"Hopefully they'll let me crash here until everything blows over," she whispered to herself, knuckles white as she clenched her fists. She'd expected Nora to throw open the door in seconds, or at least Jaune or Pyrrha to let her in after only a few moments. The silence that continued to pour from the team's dorm after almost two minutes of increasingly frantic knocking.

"Come on guys," Yang groaned as she continued to bang on the door, hoping perhaps Ren was in the shower and hadn't heard her.

"There's no way I'm going to be able to move all of my stuff in time before they get here. If Weiss shows up while I'm still moving… I need to leave before we start another fight," she thought to herself. It'd been at least ten minutes since she'd punched the heiress. Ruby and Blake would take her to the nurse, and the nurse would help her use her Aura to heal the cut in minutes. Yang punched the wall adjacent to the door, rattling the door in its frame in frustration.

"So what'd the wall do this time." Yang was surprised by the smooth voice that suddenly spoke behind her, but she was unafraid. She knew exactly who it was before she'd turned around.

"Neptune," she looked up into cobalt eyes and nervously bit her lip, unsure if she could ask him for the same kind of help she would've asked of JNPR.

"Would he mind? Would Sun? Isn't his team all boys? Would they be weirded out? I don't have time."

"What's up? Looking for Nora or Pyrrha to train with," he asked worriedly. He wasn't used to Yang losing her carefree demeanor and knew it was normally followed by someone or something getting punched into unconsciousness.

"Last I saw they were in the cafeteria yelling about pancakes," he offered helpfully.

"Actually, I was looking for a couple big, strong, handsome guys to help me move my stuff." Yang batted her eyelashes at the tall boy, so used to using her flirtatiousness to get what she wanted whenever necessary. Most boys and more than a few girls had fallen for the act, and Yang was all but desperate for help.

"Don't try to out-flirt a flirt, Yang," Neptune's response was the opposite of what Yang had expected, and the smirk that painted his face was aggravatingly taunting. Had she not been worried about her team arriving, she would've loved to try to wipe it off his face. But she knew time was running out.

"If you help me, I'll tell you all about it, I promise," she begged and tugged at his sleeve, trying her hardest to relay just how desperate she was help. Begging wasn't beneath her, but it wasn't the most fun way to ask for something, and she hoped Neptune would take the hint before she had to do something embarrassing.

"Sure, sure. No problem," he said quickly. He hadn't realized how badly Yang needed help. In this new school, he was glad to have friends as fun as team RWBY, and helping the blonde was something he had no problem with, even if he didn't have all of the details yet.

"Just open the window and you can have a little extra help," he nodded towards the closed window in the dorm. Sun was hanging from his tail, patiently waiting to be noticed. He waved to Yang, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Yang smiled, glad that the two could always be counted on to ease her mood when it was needed most. After walking Neptune inside the dorm, she pushed the window open wide enough for the Faunus to backflip through and join them in the room. Sun acrobatically stuck the landing as if he'd performed some crazy stunt and cheered himself on seconds before Neptune high-fived him in celebration. Their antics were just what Yang needed, but she still needed to move her stuff out before her team returned.

"Where's the rest of your team, hm? Your sister? … Blake?" Sun wasn't exactly the most deceptive of individuals. He'd come for one reason, and was slightly disappointed to not to have found Blake in the first place he'd looked. Neptune put a hand on his leader's shoulder, snapping the Faunus out of his disappointment.

"Yang says if we help her move her stuff, she'll tell us something cool," he explained quickly. He knew that Sun wouldn't need much convincing to help, but getting him on task as quickly as possible was important.

"Yeah, but you guys need to do it fast. Like, within the next ten minutes?" Yang smiled sheepishly at the two boys, hoping they wouldn't object to helping her. She understood exactly what she was asking of the two and she hoped it wouldn't be too intrusive on the boys and their team.

"Bet I could carry more stuff than you can," Sun playfully shoved his taller friend, ready to help however Yang required.

"You're on, dude," Neptune countered.

"Boys," Yang graciously rolled her eyes, thankful that they'd agreed to help.

"So what do we need to move," Sun asked, tightening the straps to his gauntlets.

"Um… my dresser is right here, it's got all of my clothes. I also wouldn't mind if one of you guys grabbed the GameSphere, and I'll get my brush and toothbrush and stuff. Get me out of this room before the rest of my team come back and I'll let you both play Tekken!" The two boys looked to one another, more excited than Yang had ever seen them. Sun grabbed the GameSphere, controllers and as many games as he could carry before leaving, Neptune staying behind to help Yang sort through her clothes. They worked together, sorting through her clothes and folding everything they could to fit in the one dresser she had to herself.

"Oooh, what are those," Neptune teased, nodding to a pair of rather revealing lingerie. He wasn't shocked Yang owned those types of clothes, but he'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't curious.

"Sometimes I like to look cute. Why? You want a pair," she teased him, nudging him in the side as she folded the underwear.

"You think they'll make my butt look good," Neptune asked, wiggling his hips suggestively.

"What butt," Yang countered, reaching under Ruby's bunk for her boots before placing them all on the dresser. Searching out her toiletries she finally finished packing and felt a sense of relief, one step closer to leaving. She looked back just in time to see the shocked look on Neptune's face as he clutched at his chest. Rolling her eyes at the boy, she started pushing the dresser towards the door.

"I got it," Sun called, finally having arrived after transporting the GameSphere. He took Yang's place pushing the dresser, while Neptune took the opposite side.

"Thanks, guys," Yang sighed. She could've easily lifted the dresser on her own, but her fist still hurt after throwing all of her strength behind the punch earlier. A moment of emotion washed over her. She hated feeling as if she were running away. As if she'd done something wrong or shameful. As if she regretted her actions.

"I don't," she thought to herself.

"I just don't want to have to deal with Weiss right now. She's gonna be so pissy. She'll probably involve a professor."

"Um, Yang? You coming or what?" The two boys had watched their friend zone-out for almost a minute, and were worriedly waiting for her to come back to her senses.

"Crap, on my way!" Yang slipped the pillowcase off of her pillow, threw her toiletries into the sack and walked out of her room carrying both pillow and sack out of the room and pushing the door closed behind her. The two boys helping her worked well in tandem, timing their steps so they'd never need to wait for one another to catch up. They kept just a few feet ahead of Yang, leading the way to their dorm. Rounding the first corner, they smirked at one another, entertaining themselves with a game of who could walk fastest.

Yang glanced over her shoulder as she rounded the same corner, looking back and seeing Blake and Ruby at the end of the hall. They both noticed her at the same time. Ruby's face was confused and tired. As if she'd been talking to Weiss ever since she'd left them. Blake had her arms crossed around her chest, as if she expected some explanation about what she'd done.

"I'll apologize to them later," she promised, giving a defeated shrug as she walked away.


End file.
